Work

Which educational environment is better for college students' social-emotional competency development, public or private? An investigation of 100 Chinese universities

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: Individuals' success or happiness is influenced by their noncognitive skills. Social-emotional competency (SEC) is the essential noncognitive factor for individual development in the 21st century. The different higher education environments would affect students' SEC development differently, but the difference in college students' SEC development is unclear between Chinese public and private universities. Based on the data through online questionnaires, this study conducted propensity score matching analysis on 120,344 student samples from 100 universities. The results show that, whether interference factors such as individual characteristics, family background, and academic performance are controlled or not, the progress level of private undergraduates' SEC is higher than that of public undergraduates. Private university educational environment is relatively more beneficial for undergraduates' social-emotional competency development. For improving talent cultivation quality, public universities are advised to learn from private universities' school-running experience and carry on systematic social-emotional learning programs.

Source: Acta Psychologica

DOI: 10.1016/j.actpsy.2025.105058

Authors: Zhaojun Chen, Yulei Chen

Institutions: Shandong Women’s University, Xiamen University

Language: English

Topic: Social Skills and Education

Subfield: Education

Field: Social Sciences

Domain: Social Sciences

SDG: Quality education

Open Access status: gold

Estimated APC paid: $2,670